Goleta 11-13

Margaret Connell-the former Goleta mayor who garnered 28 percent of the vote on 11/4 in her bid for re-election to Goleta City Council-credited her success with lessons she learned in her failed 2006 run. “I think last time around, we ran our campaign like amateurs,” she said. Connell pledged to champion development so long as “anything that does happen is built to standards.” (Watch Cathy Murrillo’s video interview with Connell at independent.com/connell1113.)

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The Camino Real Hotel was approved 3-0 by the Goleta Planning Commission on 11/10. Commissioner Ed Easton, recently elected to the City Council, recused himself for potential conflict of interest. Commissioner Ken Knight, chair of Goleta Valley Beautiful, resigned from the commission last week for the same reason. The proposed 99-room hotel, which would sit at the corner of Storke and Phelps roads, has raised questions throughout the community about the economic necessity of new Goleta hotels